Your source to my life!

iPad Pro

Friday I received my iPad Pro in the mail and I couldn’t be more happy. I received it and will be using it mostly work work, whether it’s taking notes or using it to implement new technology with our EHR (Electronic Health Record) software. I also ordered the Apple Pencil to go with it but that hasn’t arrived yet.

The first thing that comes to mind when looking at it is…WOW…this thing is HUGE… I own an iPad Mini and the screen size is 7.9 inches. The iPad Pro is a staggering 12.9 inches and it clearly shows. Since I don’t have a case for it yet, I’m trying my best to hold it carefully. While booting it up for the first time, you can really appreciate the size of the screen. It’s like holding a laptop without a keyboard.

So typically, when starting up a brand new apple device, you can choose to create a new device profile, or load a backup from a previous i-device. I decided to use the same backup that my iPad Mini uses since I wouldn’t have to re-set up everything. This took about 20 minutes and then an addition couple hours for the large amount of apps to download. Within minutes, the iPad Pro was ready to go (excluding some apps like I mentioned) and I was able to start playing with it.

If you are familiar with other iOS devices, this should feel right at home for you. Everything is virtually the same with the exception of multi-tasking. I can’t wait to test the Apple Pencil because note taking is one of my main priorities. I will post a second blog entry just for that when the Apple Pencil arrives. Since the screen is so large, multi-tasking was great to use and didn’t feel too cluttered. I was easily able to stream a video from my server (using Plex) while browsing the web.

So far, I haven’t found any apps that look distorted or pixelated in any way from the massive size of the screen and that was really a blessing in disguise. Since this screen is better than the Retina Macbook Pro, a optimized app really stands out and looks better than it does on smaller iOS devices.

The sound on this device is insane. It’s absolutely incredible compared to the previous i-devices. This new iPad-Pro has 4 speakers as compared to the other iPads which contain 2. This is clearly noticeable when you play any kind of audio. The quality is also outstanding. It sounds so rich, with the most clarity I’ve seen on any tablet. There’s even a decent amount of base, but not too much to drown the audio overall. I played the same music video on both the iPad Mini, as well as the iPad Pro, at maximum volume. Within seconds, you couldn’t even hear the iPad Mini which was amazing. This is a great advancement to their audio hardware and previously, this was one of my biggest complaints with the iPad Mini. Many times over the summer, I would use my iPad Mini in bed and I would have the hardest time hearing it while a fan / AC unit was running. It was so bad, I had to connect it to a bluetooth speaker just to hear it. I don’t feel I will need to do that with the iPad Pro, which is great because it’s one less thing using electricity.

Speaking of electricity, the iPad Pro has a great battery life. With all day usage, which includes: browsing, Skyping, movie watching, and some mild gaming, I had only used about 38% of the battery. If you plug it into a high amperage USB charger, it charges fairly quick to which is great. I usually plug in my devices when I go to bed so this device should have no problem running all day and it will easily charge back up to 100% by morning.

In conclusion, if you are looking for something more, something bigger, something easier to read, than I can definitely recommend the iPad Pro. If you are looking for something revolutionary, you may need to wait for the next iteration because this is mostly a giant iPad with the exception of the Apple Pencil (which sells as a separate accessory). All in all, I really like the iPad Pro and I don’t plan on going back to my iPad mini any time soon. I’ll either sell it or convert it to a kid’s only tablet.